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A couple of photos of the "something…something…Zakim…something…Bunker Hill…Bridge"
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I've gotten a few questions about the panorama software I've been using. It's MGI Photovista, and it works like a charm for me. If you try to go to www.mgisoft.com you'll end up at Roxio, so I guess they bought them up. Trouble is, I can't find anything about Photovista on the Roxio site. But you can find it here. There's also this page. There's also Reality Studio for more sophisticated panoramas, but I've not tried it.
The key to success in Photovista is that you tell it explicitly the focal length of the lens you took the photos with. A "normal" lens on a standard 35 mm camera has a focal length of around 50 mm, but most pocket cameras have a focal length of around 35 mm, since that's more useful for your family posing around the Christmas tree kind of shot. You also get to pick a barrel or cylinder projection. After that, you have no control.
It does NOT allow you to stitch photos in a 2-D grid.
There's a list of panoramic products (hard and soft) here.
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Apple Computers promote godless, hedonistic communism.
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Slow web browsing with OS X. Improvements expected as OS X is improved, and when Opera 6 (for the Mac) is released.
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Another rider in the AIDS LifeCycle has a website here. I've only come across a few of these, and this is the first one worthy of a Ron's Log link. Although the cause is sacred, and I'm sure all of the riders are fabulous souls with wonderful legs and beautiful bicycles, I would not send you to look at a one page site that said little more than "I'm doing this ride. I need donations. Click here to donate." That's what they've been like. We must assume their energy is going into road training.
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Flaunting her heterosexuality.
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Automated random login generator for the NY Times, in case you object to their registration process.
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"The world's smallest megapixel camera." 1.3 million pixels, $169, pretty damn small. Not much info on features. Is there any kind of display on the back? Is the lens fixed? Is it possible to increase the memory?
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Well, okay. Guns DO kill people.
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Kunta Kinte |
Back when Roots first appeared on TV, I missed it. I was working a night shift, so would normally have been sleeping during prime TV time. And somehow I never did get around to seeing it, a fact I was reminded of while visiting Ralph and the 25th anniversary broadcast of Roots came on. Now, finally, I've got the first DVD of the set. I can see how this was really pushing the envelope in the 70s. In fact, if it came out as a new thing right now I think it would create a tremendous brouhaha. "All those n-words! We can't let our children hear this!"
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This is just plain mean.
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"Apple Computers promote Godless Darwinism and Communism."
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STILL WAITING: I still haven't seen Noam Chomsky or anyone else call Saddam Hussein a baby-killer for completely stopping the export of Iraqi oil, even though the United States has repeatedly been accused of murdering Iraqi children merely for limiting the amount of oil Iraq can export.
Maybe it's a tired thing, pointing out the hypocrisy of the left. It's fun, but not as much fun as pointing out the hypocrisy (and stupidity) of the buffoons of the Christian right. Someday, when we're all free of all of our hypocrisies and stupidities, we'll be libertarians and there won't be anything to laugh at any more — except we'll all be crazies running amok. You can probably find humor there, too.
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Hugo Award nominees announced. Some of them:
BEST NOVEL
BEST SHORT STORY
- "The Ghost Pit" by Stephen Baxter (Asimov's 7/01)
- "Spaceships" by Michael A. Burstein (Analog 6/01)
- "The Bones of the Earth" by Ursula K. Le Guin (Tales from Earthsea, Harcourt)
- "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" by Mike Resnick (Asimov's 9/01)
- "The Dog Said Bow-Wow" by Michael Swanwick (Asimov's 10-11/01)
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June Cleaver must have gotten her panties in a twist when Goth culture vomited forth in innocent Blue Springs, Missouri, which sits east of Kansas City, but west of Grain Valley.
My favorite parts in this article are the "Youth Outreach Unit" (slogan: Big Brother is YOU!) and that they used 5 bike cops to patrol "a sparsely attended girls high school soccer match." I imagine that after successfully preventing any terrorist attacks, heroin dealing, and drive-by shootings the officers concluded their evening with locker-room patrol.
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One of the best messages I've seen on the AIDS/LifeCycle listserv:
A little update to all regarding whether or not I'm going to be able to do this ride: Saturday morning, I decided to get up and ride. With only 3 weeks left and no training under my belt, I figured I better do something. So, I got on my bike, velcro'ed on my new cycling shoes, donned some spandex (coordinating, of course) and set out to see what I was made of.
I live in San Francisco at the base of Twin Peaks. When I finished my ride, just under 8 hours later, I was in Gilroy. I had ridden almost the equivalent of Day 1. With no support. With no other riders.
To be clear on the baseline involved here:
I'm HIV+;
I'll be 40 two weeks after completing the ride;
Because of steroid therapy, my upper body is 40 pounds (of muscle) heavier than it's ever been;
Because of lipodystrophy, I'm carrying a gut that makes me look pregnant;
Because of the aforementioned steroids & lipodystrophy, most of my muscles and tendons are strung tighter than piano wire;
Before Saturday, I'd ridden one 30 mile ride in the last year;
I had a sinus infection for the last week and just walking upstairs makes me cough uncontrollably; and
I haven't participated in a ride since CAR7.
If any of the first-time riders (newbies) still have apprehensions about completing Day 1, let this serve as notice to you: IF A DISEASED, TWISTED, DISTORTED, OUT-OF-SHAPE OLD QUEER CAN DO IT, I BETTER FUCKING WELL SEE SMILES ON THE REST OF YOUR FACES DAY 1!!!! I'll be looking. Now Day 2, that's a completely different matter.
: )
Suffice it to say I WILL complete this ride. Will I ache? Yes. Will it be easy? No. Am I gonna do it? YOU BET.
Thank you all for your support.
With love,
Arvid Tobias Valgard Draconis Uffda
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San Francisco bike map in PDF with an astounding quantity of information.
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New York Magazine's gay issue.
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NASA is still pennywise and pound foolish.
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The link to the photo at the Green Line North Station platform has been fixed. Sorry about that.
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Finally got myself over to the Allston branch of the Super 88 Market. It's a bit more middle American than the store in Chinatown, but not by much. Aisles are wider, shelves aren't stacked as high, but I'd guess as many as half the products have no English on the label at all. On the other hand they have standard American breakfast cereals, American tea brands, and even pet food. I mean, like, food for the pets! And they even have Pocari Sweat:
The label says: http://www.otsuka.co.jp Pocari Sweat is a healthy beverage that smoothly supply the lost water and electrolytes from perspiration. With appropriate density and electrolyte fluid that is close to that of human body fluid, it can be absorbed into the body.
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Good page devoted to explaining how to find and delete ALL (really all) the hidden (and potentially embarrassing) files Microsoft stores on your HD.
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Zakim Bridge to be open for pedestrians on May 12. I can't be here for it, so somebody else will have to take pictures for me, mkay?
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Quite a bit of FUD-panic on the AIDS/LifeCycle listserv today as the word goes out that the destination for Day 1 has been moved to Watsonville, and the distance is estimated to be 115 miles!
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Volunteer Opportunities: Some people will ride AIDS/LifeCycle, some will donate money, and some will volunteer. Let me suggest some rewarding volunteering opportunities.
From Craigslist
The AIDS/LifeCycle needs you
Reply to: scano@sfaf.org
AIDS/LifeCycle is the official cycling event of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.
We are looking for volunteers for the following positions:
Sunday, May 12th, Orientation Day
Help Cyclists and Roadies prepare for their week at the University of San Francisco.
Time: 8AM-1PM, 12:30-5:30 and 4PM-8PM
Monday, May 13th, Opening Day- University of San Francisco.
Help Cyclists and Roadies start their adventure! Time: 4AM-8AM and 5:30AM-9AM
Please contact Cal (415-487-8081) as soon as possible to sign up for a shift
Orientation day volunteering is both a lot of work and a lot of fun. Everybody's in a great mood. If anyone famous is doing the ride (and this is California!) your chances of meeting them are very good. Your chances of meeting gorgeous, single people are even greater! Half your time and energy will be spent just telling people which way to go.
Also from Craigslist
AIDS/LifeCycle--Bike Retreival
Reply to: scano@sfaf.org
AIDS/LifeCycle is the official cycling event of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.
We are looking for volunteers for the following events:
Monday, May 20th, Bike Retreival- Pier 45 Shed A.
Help the cyclists get their bikes back. Skills: Careful lifting of bikes
Time: 10AM-3:30PM and 3PM to 8:30PM
Tuesday, May 21st,Bike Retreival-Pier 45 Shed A.
Help Cyclists get their bikes back. Skills: CAreful lifting of bikes
Time: 7:30AM-12:30PM and 12 Noon- 5PM
Please call Cal Callahan at 415-487-8081 or e-mail at ccallaha@sfaf.org to sign up.
Up to one-half of those gorgeous, single people you met at orientation will be coming to Pier 45 to get their bikes. They're home and ready to receive their praise. Surely I don't need to feed you an opening line to use when you hand over his or her bike.
Still from Craigslist
AIDS LifeCycle
Reply to: scano@sfaf.org
AIDS Life/Cycle is the new cycling event of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. Volunteers are needed for various positions. If you have the time and are willing to assist, please read the opportunities below. Contact Cal Callahan at 415-487-8081 or e-mail at ccallaha@sfaf.org to sign up.
Upload/Truck
Thursday, May 9th, Pier 45 Shed A. Driver's license is needed as well as the ability to drive a large vehicle (passenger vans, 15' cargo trucks). Also available: Detail oriented person needed to check in and label vehicles for specific assignments. Time: 9AM-2PM
Upload
Friday, May 10th, Pier 45 Shed A. Medium to heavy lifting for long periods. Also light, detail-oriented work checking manifests etc... Times: 9AM-2PM or 2PM-7PM.
Upload
Saturday, May 11th, Pier 45 Shed A. Medium to heavy lifting. Time: 9AM-2PM
Please call or e-mail today, we need YOU
For other volunteer opportunities in San Francisco and Los Angeles start here.
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Tons of info on AIDS Rides and some on AIDS/LifeCycle here.
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Good article about increasingly large, increasingly cheap HD storage. The original IBM HD held 5 megabytes and cost about $50,000.
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Huh. "Fame" comes in babysteps, I guess. Bluway.com has decided to make me one of their top 10 sites today. To prove it, you need to go to their site and scroll down until you see this bit:
 | Obviously, they have grasped the concept of Ron's Log rather well, the bastards. It makes me nervous to be in the number 1 slot there, while jonno is in 7. Maybe position means nothing on that little list. Jonno is one of those bloggers to whom many other bloggers bow and scrape and offer praise. I mean, he's BIG.
Bluway is…uh, well, let's wait and see how the hits go today and then maybe I'll say more about Bluway. In the meantime, all you millions of excited Bluway fans must (simply must!) go here and make a donation to my California AIDS/LifeCycle ride. |
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Here Michael Andrew Benedetto spills more details on his life than most bloggers do. Even includes his home address — unless that's some sort of devious trap.
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PC Magazine has a favorable review of Opera 6.01. Opera is the preferred brower here at Ron's Log development headquarters.
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Map for gay London.
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Security. How to analyze proposed improvements. Clear thinking stuff.
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Today is Patriot's Day in Massachusetts, in commemoration of the Battles of Concord and Lexington, April 19, 1775 (subsequent to Paul Revere's ride); eventually leading to the Battle of Bunker Hill, the British evacuation from Boston, and the Declaration of Independence; all evenually culminating in the Boston Marathon.
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I've been forgetting to mention that the former location of Ellis The Rim Man will become a charter high school.
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Stick Figure Warning-Man shares his personal views.
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In absolutely gorgeous New England spring weather I did an 80-something mile ride with Deb and Dayna to Kingston and back, by a wandering route. Sunburned arms (they predicted cloudy). Millions of flowering trees. Young (and old) men everywhere blowing the dust off their motorcycles.
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Here is the site of some sort of combined orthopaedic/shyster professional service in Los Alamitos. You must watch the entire intro, and after that take a look at the map to their office.
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Hey, Dr. Stein finally got his site up and working!
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Free information for the entire world. This is what the web is really for! And here is the free information librarians and library users everywhere have been waiting for [drumroll]: A database of libraries with cats. Mostly the real feline kind, but I see they also include the lion sculptures at the BPL. I see the Egleston Square branch seems to be claiming a 40-some year old cat. I hope it's made a visit to the taxidermist at least once in that 40 years. None of the cats in the Library of Congress are included. C'mon cats, fat, cool, or lazy, submit yourselves! The database lists none in the entire state of Alaska, where I suppose the libraries prefer to keep bear or elk.
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The Guardian calls him "Mr. Right," but the description further down in the article that calls him "a demagogue and populist" sounds more accurate. He's Pim Fortuyn, and he's running to be Prime Minister of The Netherlands. And he's gay. But he's not the sort of gay candidate we have in the U.S., the ones I am so tired of, the ones who are just Republicans in absolutely perfect business suits. No, it sounds like Mr. Fortuyn brings real gay style to his campaign: "Under the watchful gaze of his black-clad, dark-skinned bodyguards, the flamboyant, white-skinned and shaven-headed homosexual…"
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Those "Amazing X10 Cameras," and other cameras like them, are quite unsecure, I hope you all know. The image is broadcast for up to a quarter mile. Here's a good article in the NY Times all about it.
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Google search available via IM.
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Already there's a flood of donations pouring into the AIDS/LifeCycle ride. Well — flood my be an exaggeration, but the humidity has definitely risen. And it smells like charity sweat. Thanks guys!
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What is it in the Kennedy blood that makes them do shit like this? Even good guy Joe Kennedy did it, right out there in peaceful, bucolic Brighton. I'd love to be on the receiving end, though. The Kennedys always settle.
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These journalists! Reading the daily newspaper is like watching old newsreels. In today's Globe Brian McGrory is shocked! Shocked, I tell you! to discover that the Acela is not a bullet train!
Tomorrow's headline: "Osama bin Laden Is A Rude Fellow."
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Joe Lavin whines about the perennial problem of finding a decent, reasonably priced apartment in Boston. Well, actually Cambridge and Somerville, it seems. He should be thankful. I remember when you couldn't even dream of looking for a rental unit in Cambridge because "rent control" had locked that town up tight. And look at his price range! $1500/month he's looking at, and he complains because there are open holes in the wall, or the ceiling is covered in mirrors. As a man with a paid-off mortgage behind him, I say those prices should be much, much higher — and those tenants should be delighted to pay them. Otherwise I will not be able to retire into the lifestyle I want to become accustomed to as soon as I like. We all got our needs.
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For the anally retentive who like to please their postal service agents, there is this site where you type in a postal address (as much of it as you know) and it will spell check it, format it correctly for the USPS, identify the correct ZIP+4 code, and then create a postscript or bitmap file with the address and bar code that you can print right on the envelope! Oh, and it's free, just like in the good ol' days of the internet.
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It seems that some time over the last winter Stroud's of Kansas City opened a location in Fort Worth, Texas, at 5555 Bridge Street. Stroud's is to chicken what Gates is to barbecue, only smaller. Here is a review of the Forth Worth location. And another here. One more here. Here's a little bit on the original Kansas City location, which is within walking distance of where I grew up (so you know it's trash). Here's a negative comment on the Fort Worth location, where "Sharon" (as she calls herself) says Stroud's is no place to find southern fried chicken. Right on, honey! And Boston is no place to find Kansas City barbecue. I can't find anyplace where Stroud's claims to serve southern fried chicken. And here is somebody in Minneapolis (of all places) claiming they have the best fried chicken at Lucille's Kitchen, where they cook it with cayenne.
Kansas City menus can be oggled here.
This is the interior of the old Kansas City location. Don't know how come there are no fat people in this shot. Those must be professional models. |
And here's their slogan on one of their t-shirts, which I'm sure some of you want to buy. |
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Nasty nasty attitudes, big SUVs, and southern California attitudes all pile in for this over-the-top concept.
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Some "blogger" has proposed a code of ethics for bloggers.
Ahem.
Here is the code of ethics for Ron's Log:
- I will write what I want, when I want, the way I want.
- I'll pay the bills.
- You, the reader, can…
- Read it or not, as you please
- Respond, or not
- Create your own blog — or not
See how you get a lot more freedom here than I do? That's the blessing of good ethical behavior, like what you get here from Ron's Log.
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Today is the 41st anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's flight into space. And so someone has organized "Yuri Night" with parties. There will be one in Boston, but only an e-mail address is provided. There's quite a bit more information provided on the San Francisco party.
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Police in Paso Robles bust up a Hooverville.
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World Trade Center memorial in Santa Cruz.
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Georgia democrat goes simply fucking insane.
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Everybody warm up your charity muscles and go to www.rbgilbert.com/life/ where I ask for your support and donations for the first ever California AIDS/LifeCycle which I will be riding (it's a bike ride) May 13 to 19 to raise money for the HIV and AIDS programs at the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center.
- The LifeCycle is NOT a Pallotta Teamworks event! So no bitchin' about that old subject, okay?
- Your donation will NOT be used to grace my ride with half-full porta-potties, cold tofu burgers, a tent that is only slightly leaky, a delivery service that drops my bags a mile from my tentsite in the mud, nor even gritty badly-mixed Gatorade. No! None of those, because I have already (out of my own sorry pocket) paid the minimum required pledge. My donation will cover whatever meager expenses LifeCycle takes care of to make sure that I arrive in West Hollywood at least half alive. 200% of your donation will go directly to pay for AIDS and HIV services at LAGLC! Damn, you're lucky!
- If I have your postal address I'll be sending you an old-fashioned printed-on-paper(!) request, too.
- If all I have is your e-mail address, then I'll hit you up that way!
- Resistance is futile (except in Spinning class).
If you want to cut right through the crap and donate Now! Now! Now! then get your credit card and GO HERE TO DONATE ON-LINE — thank you very much. You'll need this important info:
I'm "participant number" 1118 and my name is Ron Gilbert.
You have to type those in yourself.
Go Here To Read All About AIDS/LifeCycle And Why I Want Your Donation
Options are provided for those who want to donate to other good charities or who cannot afford to give even one tiny dollar.
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Today was the first day I was able to ride with bare naked legs — down below where my shorts end, I mean. It felt great! Rode out to Walden Pond, going painfully over Belmont Hill on the way. Felt moments of strength even. I don't know if it was just the fabulous weather, or if the training is working (again).
Coming back home, at the very top of Heartbreak Hill on Comm Ave I developed a flat in that rear tire that my friends at Bicycle Bill's assured me would never be punctured even though it didn't have Kevlar. Well, the offending pointy-object was a 1½ inch long nail! I suppose such a demon could have penetrated even a Kevlar protected tire, so I'll overlook it this time. Even though I was tempted to just walk home, I saw that this was the opportunity to find out if I was all set to fix flats on the Air Glide. I hadn't had a flat on it before. I took up a bench near the entrance to Boston College and did the fix. My little puny handpump couldn't get that rear tire up to the optimum 120 psi, but it was rideable nonetheless.
On my repaired tire I rolled down the hill and past Cardinal Law's official mansion. Outside there was only the single picketer who has been there a long time, so I knew the Archbishop hadn't resigned — yet.
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Details of the Queen Mother's funeral procession that are not being reported in other media.
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Nudist World Domination
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The mostly unforeseen effect of DVDs on film making. Although, I think Phil Alden Robinson's statement "Do you realize that in all of science-fiction literature they never predicted digital technology and how it would change our lives and our art?" reveals how shallow his science fiction reading has been.
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More priestly doings. I have been trying to cut back on this on-going saga, but… According to the Boston Globe, Paul Shanley was co-owner of the Whispering Palms and Cabana Club Resort in the Warm Sands area of Palm Springs! Whispering Palms was incorporated into Inn Exile in 1994. Cabana Club Resort seems to still exist at 970 Camino Parocela. Now I wonder if there's a chance that was Paul Shanley I saw watering the plants naked one day at sunrise. Right age and location, but there are a lot of white men about that age in that area…naked at sunrise, but most are still asleep indoors unless they're an owner.
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A panorama of the Granary Burial Ground along Tremont Street on the edge of Beacon Hill.
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The text of the constitution of the Confederacy. There are some interesting minor differences from the federal constitution that might be considered improvements (no import duties, for instance). Then you come to this part in Section IX of Article I:
The importation of negroes of the African race from any foreign country other than the slaveholding States or Territories of the United States of America, is hereby forbidden; and Congress is required to pass such laws as shall effectually prevent the same.
Congress shall also have power to prohibit the introduction of slaves from any State not a member of, or Territory not belonging to, this Confederacy.
No bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law denying or impairing the right of property in negro slaves shall be passed.
And it includes this sentence: A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
The president got a single 6-year term, but the Electoral College was the same as in the U.S. except that the President and Vice-President were chosen separately.
In Article IV was this: The citizens of each State … shall have the right of transit and sojourn in any State of this Confederacy, with their slaves and other property; and the right of property in said slaves shall not be thereby impaired. And: No slave or other person held to service or labor in any State or Territory of the Confederate States, under the laws thereof, escaping or lawfully carried into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor; but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such slave belongs; or to whom such service or labor may be due.
And in a clause that defines Congress's power to govern territories and create new states is this: In all such territory the institution of negro slavery, as it now exists in the Confederate States, shall be recognized and protected by Congress and by the Territorial government; and the inhabitants of the several Confederate States and Territories shall have the right to take to such Territory any slaves lawfully held by them in any of the States or Territories of the Confederate States.
It doesn't look like the Confederate Congress had the power to initiate consitutional amendments. They could only be initiated by a consitutional convention which would be formed upon petition by only three states! In the U.S. Constitution, as I'm sure all the boys and girls recall, constitutional amendments can be proposed by a two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress, or by a constitutional convention which is formed upon the petition of two-thirds of the states. There was no provision in the Confederate constitution to increase the number of states required to petition for a constitutional convention to more than 3 if the country grew.
A proposed amendment to the Confederate constitution had to be ratified by two-thirds of the state legislatures or state conventions. The U.S. Constitution requires three-fourths of the states to ratify an amendment. In other words, it was a little easier to amend the Confederate constitution, but they checked that by taking the power to amend away from the Confederate government entirely, giving it solely to the states.
In all, then, the biggest difference between the Confederate and the U.S. constitutions was the insertion of those provisions guaranteeing permanent "negro slavery." Other than the amendment process, I didn't pick up on anything that would have given the states any "rights" they didn't have under the U.S. Constitution. Very surprisingly, the Confederate document is as silent on state secession as is the U.S. Constitution.
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1966 Volvo P1800 owned by a Long Island man will soon reach its 2-millionth mile. Original engine (rebuilt at 680,000). One owner. According to Guinness it "will have the highest certified mileage of any car driven by the original owner in non-commercial service." Here are more pictures.
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608 pound black bear found in New Jersey - by the driver of a minivan that hit and killed it.
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Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Emilie Elias has issued a ruling that Tom Cruise "is not, and never has been, homosexual and has never had a homosexual affair." Okay, okay! If that's the best way ol' Tom has of establishing his heterosexuality, I guess I'll have to accept it.
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Socialized medicine still the best…at failing to meet needs. 1,050,400 people are waiting to be admitted to an NHS hospital in England.
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That's why it's called April FOOLS day. Next year call it "Olathe, Kansas, Day."
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She had a gub.
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Scientists working on a cell phone that lipreads, which would allow silent phone calls! So far they've got the vowels nailed down. Consonants will be finished sometime after the completion of the Big Dig.
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Another one for the librarians in the audience.
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Good cartoon examining the condition of the unemployed in our fair nation today.
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A nude sculpture on the MGH campus, pointed out to me by Ken. |
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Will this technology improve restaurant service, or will it just make it easier for lame-ass doofus waitstaff to turn off their brains?
Here is a handy analog drinking schedule you can print out. Very reliable.
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"Dubya Goes To War" A nice distraction, using the very words of W himself!
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More about homosexuality in Kandahar.
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An opinion in favor of immediate pre-emptive attack on Iraq.
And here is a long article from the New Yorker that digs into the Kurdish story.
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Anymore, I don't bother linking to vaguely ignorant anti-blog articles that appear in [usually] newspapers; and especially not to the really dumb one in the Globe this week. They all seem to be written by people who really don't get it, who are completely outside Blogistan (or the Blogosphere, if you prefer) and who think they (precious they) are the first person to discover and explain those blogs to you, you poor peasant. Here's an LA Times opinion piece that presents a theory of why the newspapers all seem to hate the blogs so much: blogs are heterodox, upfront about their biases, and are conversational. Newspapers are none of these, which is what makes them newspapers.
Personally, I suspect the anger goes back to the suffering the newspaper people experienced in J-school. They went into it bubbling with enthusiasm and ideas - ideal bloggers. But the great machinery of the school squeezed all of that out of them and taught them to be journalists. They suffered, so now they think they belong to the elite (MDs think the same way). The journalists are pissed now that here's all these unschooled twits around the world who have not suffered and who have not learned to conform to the rules of journalism who are all doing what that journalist had hoped to do back when he was a bubbling teenager.
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Understanding America, by an Australian.
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Get yourself REALLY grossed out - or not - as you prefer. At the allnurses.com bulletin board JennieBSN asks her fellow nurses to confess what really freaks them out. It's surprising to me how many nurses say they cannot tolerate vomit or mucus! Did they become nurses just so they could wear those snappy white outfits? But there are also descriptions of things that might amaze you. For example, "once in our small town ER we had this farmers wife come in with an unable to void problem she was nasty hadnt bathed in years senerio I was working with an agency RN (this was back when I was a Tech) when we went to cath her we found chicken feathers the nurse lost it. and I was traumatized for ever."
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Blog as Borg. I have noticed a recent increase in the number of news items on "mainstream" sources (TV, radio, newspapers) that I had already read about a day or more earlier (and usually in greater depth) on blogs.
Traffic light photography. Not at all about safety, as cameras are placed not at intersections with the highest rates of accidents, nor at intersections with the heaviest traffic, but at intersections with the shortest yellow lights in order to generate the greatest number of tickets.
Jerusalem blog.
Shirtless guy.
A store around the corner has a sign taped to the door announcing that some lottery jackpot is "$115,000,000 million." I get irritated by those sub-literate signs selling things for ".50¢," but it would be pointless to argue the point with the deadheads who post such things. But, the difference between $115 million and "$115,000,000 million." might be worth retaining an attorney. By the way, that is $115 trillion in American English.
Decided that in order to push myself to get into shape for AIDS/Lifecycle I had two choices: I could use evil, body-destroying, mind-warping, addictive drugs; or I could do spinning. Since I have no idea where to get the drugs, I chose spinning…at my gym. Eight women and me. I survived.
Kevin Guilfoile explains The First Rule of Book Club, specifically those city-wide book clubs, like Chicago's. It seems they've spread to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Cleveland, Colorado Springs, and even New York City.
This is excellent, really excellent: The Morning News Guide to Urban Etiquette: New York City, although all of it would apply equally to Boston.
marplot \MAHR-plaht\ (noun) : one who frustrates or ruins a plan or undertaking by meddling
Example sentence: "What is the use of my taking the vows and settling everything as it should be, if that marplot Hans comes and upsets it all?" (George Eliot, Daniel Deronda)
Beginning in the 17th century, people liked to prefix "mar-" to nouns to create a term for someone who mars, or spoils, something. A mar-joy was bad enough, but even worse was a mar-all. Although today the word "plot" often carries an implication of secrecy or ill-intent, the "plot" used in the formation of "marplot" simply meant "a plan for the accomplishment of something." A marplot, therefore, can really mess up a perfectly good thing. The word may not have been invented by English playwright Susannah Centlivre, but it first surfaces in print in her 1709 play The Busy Body. That title refers to a character named Marplot, who misguidedly gets in the way of the lovers in the play.
from www.Merriam-Webster.com
Gift received from BA:
Here, for you who are looking for it, a "gallery of shirtless boys."
Click for full size
More Phil Saviano, this time from the Hartford Courant.
Wisconsin commemorative quarter designs. This is only one of several designs.
The Republic of Free, created out of the remants of flooded Tuvalu.
AOL-Time Warner buys up 200 popular blogs. "…we think we have 78 per cent of the libertarian news blogs, 91 per cent of the ClueTrain Manifesto fan sites, and 59 per cent of all blogging female arts graduates, many of whom are Virgos." Ron's Log continues its lonely, poverty-ridden struggle to bring you its unique load of crap.
The real, REAL secret behind Google's success.
Car Talk's 10 worst cars of the millennium. The 10th spot is held by the VW bus! Of course the list includes the Pinto, Vega and Gremlin, but none of those rated as the very worst car of the 2nd millennium.
If you have a Yahoo ID or use Yahoo for e-mail, they have opted you IN to potential spam. Go here to change your settings to "No." CNet article here.
Sonoma county jackrabbits have been free of rabies for 16 years…or have they?
Intrepid young man attempts to get to the bottom of these ubiquitous signs. If you're a cyclist, you know how, uh, ubiquitous they are, being everywhere, ubiquitously.
A little clarification on how Jesus is with you always (you knew it had to happen).
Breed of cat that can neither climb nor jump! What, do you have to build a wheelchair ramp to the litter box?
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AIM handle: YellowBrighton
Amazon wish list
Netflix vs Rentmydvd
Index of my AIDS ride and Pallotta links
GeoURL
Ron's Log Index
7/21/2003 · 8/ 6/2003
5/29/2003 · 7/18/2003
4/25/2003 · 5/28/2003
3/24/2003 · 4/24/2003
3/ 1/2003 · 3/21/2003
1/28/2003 · 2/28/2003
11/30/2002 · 1/23/2003
11/ 1/2002 · 11/29/2002
9/23/2002 · 10/30/2002
9/ 5/2002 · 9/20/2002
8/10/2002 · 9/ 4/2002
7/24/2002 · 8/ 9/2002
6/27/2002 · 7/23/2002
6/ 3/2002 · 6/25/2002
4/24/2002 · 5/31/2002
4/ 1/2002 · 4/23/2002
3/ 1/2002 · 3/31/2002
2/10/2002 · 2/28/2002
1/22/2002 · 2/ 9/2002
1/ 3/2002 · 1/16/2002
12/16/2001 · 1/ 2/2002
12/ 2/2001 · 12/15/2001
11/ 1/2001 · 11/29/2001
10/16/2001 · 10/31/2001
9/23/2001 · 10/13/2001
9/11/2001 · 9/22/2001
7/29/2001 · 9/10/2001
7/ 2/2001 · 7/28/2001
5/29/2001 · 6/30/2001
5/ 1/2001 · 5/21/2001
4/ 8/2001 · 4/29/2001
3/25/2001 · 4/ 7/2001
3/11/2001 · 3/24/2001
3/ 4/2001 · 3/10/2001
2/18/2001 · 3/ 3/2001
2/ 4/2001 · 2/17/2001
1/23/2001 · 2/ 2/2001
1/ 1/2001 · 1/22/2001
12/18/2000 · 12/31/2000
11/30/2000 · 12/ 7/2000
11/ 6/2000 · 11/28/2000
10/29/2000 · 11/ 5/2000
10/11/2000 · 10/19/2000
10/ 1/2000 · 10/ 9/2000
9/24/2000 · 9/30/2000
9/15/2000 · 9/22/2000
9/ 7/2000 · 9/13/2000
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